1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the receiving, of a plurality of plastic parts from a mold and automatically delivering such parts to receiving and/or packaging containers for further processing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Use of multi-cavity molds such as used in plastic injection molding machines is of course well known in the prior art. Typically, such machines utilize plastic, heated to a flowable form and forced throughout each of the cavities until they are filled. Plastic material runners serve to interconnect the plurality of parts and the runners and parts are ejected from the mold in interconnected relation to one another in what may be considered an array of parts. The number of plastic parts of course are proportional in number to the number of cavities of the multi-cavity machine.
One problem existing in the plastic molding industry is the separation of the plastic parts from the initially interconnecting runner structure in a manner which will facilitate the separation and individual packaging of parts without any runner portion still being attached. It has been common in the prior art to perform the above process using manual techniques and a plurality of workers to manually strip the parts and place them in storage or shipping containers.
There is of course a need in the industry for means to automatically, through cooperative and accurate machinery, separate the parts from one another and from any initially interconnecting runner structure once they are ejected from the plastic mold as set forth above.
Such a preferred assembly would therefore be positionable into a receiving position to first receive the parts and the runner from the mold and then maintain the runners separated from the plastic parts during delivery of the plastic parts to storage containers. Further, a preferred assembly would then serve to deliver the separated plastic parts into individual packaging and/or storage containers preferably independently of one another while still allowing numerous ones of the parts to be collected in bulk.
Typically, one method of separating and/or delivering parts, whether they be plastic parts or formed of other materials, is the use of compressed air or like pressurized fluid which serves to effectively "blow" the parts from their point of ejection to their point of intended delivery. Patents representative of the handling, dispensing and/or delivery of a plurality of various types of parts or products include the Brewin et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,163,470 disclosing a pneumatic system to dispatch lightweight articles, such as hosiery, through a plurality of various independent and separate conduits downstream to different specifically intended locations. The structure disclosed in this patent, of course, is not directed to any type of receiving, stripping, ejection, etc. of plastic parts from a runner structure per se.
The patent to Boring, U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,810 is directed to a pneumatic system to dispatch granular material through various conduits to different locations. Again, there is no ejection feature associated with the development of pressurized fluid such as air under pressure to plastic parts which have been previously separated from one another and from any initially supporting runner structure.
The patent to Beneke, U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,091 is directed to a device for the pneumatic feeding of a quantity of cards by means of deposit chutes lined-up in registry with the individual ones of the cards which are connected individually to a pneumatic feed line.
The Poteat et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,207,559 discloses a means for dispatching items again of the hosiery type through pneumatic conduits under pressure fluid or compressed air to a central station where they are separated according to size and/or other requirements.
While the development and advancement of the prior art are represented in the above-noted patents, none of these patents disclose a system for the dispatching of molded parts of various quantities, sizes and shapes through a pneumatic system with the inclusion of an assembly which will receive plastic parts still initially interconnected by runner structures to one another from a mold and then maintain the various parts separate from the runner structure and from one another for delivery, individually, to separate locations such as but not necessarily to packaging and/or storage containers.